i know our attorney team john is here. congratulations for all the hard work, as well as michael. thank you for helping us through the entire environmental impact reports and all that took many, many years of dedicated work. we really appreciate that. and without further ado, terrific tenure, president of the board, district supervisor david chiu, thank you so much. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> good morning. the sun is shining on north beach today. i am so happy to be here. i think it's amazing that in the week that we celebrate the giants, we are also celebrating a real tribute to the best baseball legend in history, joe dimaggio! [ applause ]

as our librarian just said, the very first meeting i took, even before he was sworn-in, after i was elected was about this library. and i got to tell you, that was only four years of a ten-year struggle. there have been hundreds of meetings coming together. there are high school students today who were preschool students when we started this conversation. and i have to tell you as we all know, it takes a village to raise our kids, but it has taken many villages to build this library. i want to start first and foremost by thanking three mothers, who helped to lead friends of joe dimaggio, julie christinsen, lizzy diaz and lizziehurst, thank you for all you have done. [ applause ] and i also want to take a

moment and thank all of the parents who are here of all the different schools that we have. yes, franklin middle school, garflied, st. peter and paul, what am i missing? sherman, telegraph hill. thank you all for what you are doing. i also want to thank those who have been advocating for our seniors and disabled, our parks advocates, our library advocates and of course our city staff. we have a lot of acronyms, dpw, ruark, our mayor, planning, thank all for what you have done. [ applause ] . let me just close by saying that our work is not done. and if you remember we had opponents who fought this library. who delayed our being here by years, by millions of dollars and by lawsuits. is some of them may be running to be supervisor of district 3.

and some of them are opposing proposition b. boo. >> boo. >> they are fighting our kids. they are fighting our families and they are fighting the next generations, but shame on them. that is right. so let me just say we have done a lot of chants in san francisco like let's go giants. i have another one for you, let's go prop b, let's go joe d. are you ready, kids? let's go probb, let's go joe d. let's go prop b, let's go joe d. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> all right, is there high-energy today? fantastic. a couple of other colleagues, peers in the city family, tom, who is our arts

commission executive director. thank you for joining us. we have a partnership in the arts commission that every new building has public art. i don't know if our artist for north beach is here, bill fontana, we're excited about his work and the opportunity to have beautiful art as part of the project. so bill, thank you. also, we talked about how important access is to our neighborhood libraries and today we have our acting director in the mayor's office of disability, carla johnson. carla. thank you for joining us. thank you for being here today. [ applause ] our next supervisor who also does not need much of an introduction because he is at every single library opening. a terrific staunch supporter and advocate for public libraries supervisor scott wiener. thank you for joining us [ applause ] . >> thank you, luis and

congratulations on this great day moving forward. i go to library openings partly because mine were done by the time i took office. i have public library opening envy. this project in particular, north beach branch library and joe dimaggio has had a special place in my heart and i have been especially an outspoken supporter of this project and, in fact when we were putting together prop b, the parks fund and we needed to make room in the for joe dimaggio, i went to the rec and park commission to have it included even though it wasn't in my district. some people have asked me scott why you do care so much about this project when it's not even in your district? we might be representing districts, but we are one city fundamentally. [ applause ] and just like your great supervisor david chiu supports

things that happen in my district i want to support north beach and this part of the city. even more important, this project, this fight about the north beach branch library, about joe dimaggio, fundamentally was about whether we were going to be moving forward as a city. whether we were going to focus just on the past or also on the future of our city. whether we were going to focus on what recreation was like 25 or 50 years ago or what needs to happen today and in the future in san francisco? and we won that battle and we sent a clear message that that city has a strong future for everyone and we're going to make it happen. thank you and congratulations. [applause] >> thank you, scott. appreciate it. i did mention that the library is thriving? did i mention that last year we had 7.2 million visitor to our

libraries? it's exciting to know that and it's the only larguishan library that did not suffer any reductions or cutbacks during the economic downturn. you provided that stable funding and thank you, again for all of your terrific support. with that i would like to call to the mic our great partner, the department of water and the folks that oversee the entire construction and management of the projects, mohammed. thank you [ applause ] >> thank you, and good morning everyone. are you as excited as i am? all right. let me just start by thanking the community for this long-awaited project. we went through several hoops. it's been ten years. we have gone through almost every commission. we went through the legal battle and you all stood with us and we're here today to break ground on this great library, big hand for all of those who put that effort in. [ applause ]

this project is the 24th library that our agency has been involved in. we have renovated 16 libraries, and we have built 6 new ones. the 23rd is in the bayview in my neighborhood and that will be ready for groundbreaking in january and for completion and opening in january and now we're groundbreaking on this project. as part of this project, you will be getting a two-story library. it will be designed for led silver or greater and sustainable and as opposed to the old library it will be ready for the big one, seismically fit. something mayor lee has put forth in his leadership as mayor is that it will bring a lot of jobs and this library will be the first library to

undergo the new local hiring law, meaning that 25% of san franciscans will be working on this project. big hand for mayor lee and the board of supervisors for their leadership u. [ applause ] i would like to thank our management team, edgar lopez under his direction lena chen and her team have been doing a wonderful job and they will be making sure that we deliver this project on time and on budget as we have done in other projects. [ applause ] . the architect marshall leyden has been with us from the beginning of this project since 2003 and she worked very hard with the community and the design is a very sustainable design. there will be great views of north beach from all sides of library and it's going to be a very, very beautiful building. i am very proud to be part of it and i'm sure you will enjoy it. big hand to the architects.

[ applause ] . the contractors who prepared the event for today,cl w, we have worked with them on many of the rec and park and library projects and they will be delivering this project. i'm just so happy, because they have done great work with us. i want to extend my appreciation to them. big hand forclw, please. [ applause ] and of course, where is dennis oats? this guy is going to be here everyday making sure that the project is done well and built to spec. dennis oats, please let everybody know and if you have questions about this library, that is the man to talk to, dennis oats. [ applause ] >> lastly, i wanted to especially thank luis and his staff. luis in so many meetings had the opportunity to change the course or do something different and he stuck there all the way.

he continued to encourage us. this is what i want. we need to get it and all the battles that we went through, luis was there and made good, sound decisions along with the library commission and that is why we're here today with that great project. big hand for luis and his leadership and the library. [ applause ] and of course, the project will be a library and a park and we need to do more projects like that in san francisco. so joining everybody, i'm looking forward to this groundbreaking and i'm looking forward to coming back for the grand opening. thank you very much. thank you. [ applause ] thank you, mohammed. we definitely have a mutual admiration society among all department heads. our next department head, he and i take the show on the road to promote literacy and to promote parks. i will let him tell the story, phil ginsburg. [ applause ] >> thank you, luis. his alter ego, what we call

each other, he is before mr. books and i am mr. park and this gentleman is mr. clean. [ laughter ] >> it's such a joy to be here and such a celebrate tory week. there has been a lot of talk this week about team and putting team before self and that is not just happening on the ballfield at at&t park, but it's happening in your city and we're so incredibly blessed to have the leadership that we have in mayor lee, board president chiu and supervisor wiener. in no time that i have been involved in the city has both the mayor and board worked together to focus on helping families thrive, through better parks, through better streets, through better libraries and our city leadership deserves such a big round of applause fortaking these steps [ applause ]

i also really want to single out our partnership with mr. parks and the library. this is how cities are supposed to be. i don't know if many of you had the opportunity to come and join us at the west sunset ribbon-cutting, when we jointly opened the ortega public library and playground in this beautiful space on a beautiful sunny day just like this we celebrated a brand-new hub and we did it actually out in the sunset and this might just be the crown jewel of them all. if proposition b passes, it's $5.5 million to at long last rebuild joe dimaggio playground and create for this space all of the incredible potential

that it has. my very, very first day on the job, my very first day as s as rec and park director i met with luis and my staff and said there are only six words that you need to know. that is it. do you remember them in a? there are only six words that you need to know and that is, "the library belongs on the triangle." [ laughter ] and here we are on the triangle. [ applause ] so my last big thank you and before i give my last thank i want to recognize recreation and park and plan commissioner cindy wu is also here. thank you, cindy. [ applause ] my last big thank you is to you. is to the friends of joe dimaggio playground and the

neighbors here who have fought and fought and fought. the giants actually opened up at at&t park in 2000 and it took 12 years or it took 10 years for our first world championship, right? it's taken ten years to get to this spot right now. thank you friends of joe dimaggio playground and thunk lizzy and thank you all for your persistence and thank you for putting the community interest above your self interests because quite frankly, the kids are in college now since the project started this. is an amazing inspired project and thank you to all of you for making our city great. yes on b! [ applause ] >> thank you phil, what he didn't complete the story we go out to school and do reads and do the poet in the pocket once a year. our next leader gives many, many hours of dedicated service to leading the commission,

leading the vision for the library, not only the branch library improvement program, but the array of services and programs that we provide. it's my honor and pleasure to work side by sigh with their, our commissioner president julegomez. [ applause ] . >> thank you so much, what i want to do today in addition to thanking my fellow commissioners teresa and michael, and thanking the mayor and our supervisors. [ applause ] what i usually like to do is to remind all of us that this is sacred ground. the people who came before most of us, the native people who came before us believed that this ground was sacred and no one is an owner. we are stewards of this ground. the dirt that you are going to play in and plant in is the legacy that those people have

left us. it's really appropriate, i think that we have gone to all corners of the city. we have gone east and south and west and we conclude here in the north with our final blessing of this land here in north beach, the home of so many wonderful poets and authors, writers, who bring great honor to this land. and there is nothing that i can think of more honorable than a library that will bring together all of the worlds that we know and many worlds that we don't yet know will all be on this land for all of us for years to come. thank you so much for your support. we're going to continue to need it as we go forward building. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you, jule.

i see another former library commission president and former commissioner charles. thank you for your great service as well. [ applause ] when we talk about partnerships, there is no other group that better defines partnerships for the city and support and the public-private partnership than the friends of the san francisco public library and have provided the funding for all of our furniture, the fixtures and all of the equipment. it truly owns our library in that regard. it's my pleasure to introduce of the executive director of the friends of the san francisco libraries scott. >> [ applause ] . >> thank you. it's a pleasure to be here. as luis said we had this fantastic public-private partnership for 23 branchs and now is your opportunity if you want to join 4400 other san franciscans who raised $12.7 million for other branchs we invite you to join us back at tent and catherine is waving

her arm where's you can join us in the north beach campaign. we have john briscoe, our honorary chair, who will lead that along with our board of directors, camilla, john. steven. carol goodman. we have haven't done this alone. i would like to quickly acknowledge our partnership organizations. friends of joe dimaggio, russian river, the committee for better parks and recreation for north beach, the community youth center, telegraph hill center. sherman elementary. the francisco middle school pto. states peter and paul school. john parker elementary and garfield elementary and thank

you victoria pastry cake donated the cake and make sure you eat some cake and join us for our campaign in north beach. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you, scott. we're almost there. oh, former commissioner lonnie chen. thank you lonnie for being here [ applause ] we're almost there. one more individual. she has already been mentioned. it's a perfect tribute, a capstone, julie christiansen. >> thank you >> can i get my team up here? i have been fielding all the thanks, but it doesn't really belong to me. it belongs to all of these people. who else is here from our group? come on up. who am i missing? >> the whole village, come on

up. >> so we have a couple of city folks. where is greg scott? gret get up here. greg, get up here. i want to point out jill, karen. jill is the deputy chief librarian and karen, these two women are the fairy godmothers of this project. we would not be here without all the people that you heard from, but we would not be here without them. give thermometer a big round of applause. [ applause ] >> we have also got on city staff our aquatic director greg scott. [ applause ] >> and let's see, who else did we get up here? huh? mindy. mindy is on my list. i am the last speaker.

they are going to try to limit me to the public hearing three minutes and i'm going to try to stick to that, probably not. [ [ laughter ] after i'm finished we're going to turn some dirt. we have a food truck because we deposit want anybody hungry. you guys patronize them if you will. mel sharp and his band are going to be back playing after the speeches. so hang around and party down. i just have a few people that i need to thank. [ laughter ] i will do the short list. of course the mayor. mayor lee has had a lot of celebrating to do this week. we're really grateful here is here. our district 3 supervisor david chiu and his staff. they never pick up the phone or answer an email without saying, "what do you need and what can i do?" our head librarian, luis herrera. we were the first library on the list and we'll be the last

one in the current branch library program to be completed. a lot of hard decisions and he stood with us. phil ginsburg, rec and park director. our dpw director mohammed, the last time i saw o & m mohammed he was pushing a wheelbarrow. our department heads have stood with us. jill, karen, besides them, gary, who was at the time capital planning manager for rec and park. mindy, lenu chen, the manager for the project. michael from planning, john from the city attorney's office. michelle and mary, michelle is

with the library and mary is with the friends of the library and put on this event today. our commissioners, rec and park, planning, library, who have voted unanimously. some of them more than once for this project. our board of supervisors, who stood with us. the architects, marsha and a special thanks to erin who has done so much to help us on though this project. you know? that is the city side of this public-private partnership and i have to be fair in saying that this project has lasted through the term of two supervisors, two head librarians, three mayors, and four rec and park general managers. the heart of this project, the constant thing has been the heart of this neighborhood. has been our volunteers and our people. [ applause ] >> so i want to introduce june. [ applause ] , liz diaz.

amy miles. bill collins. martha mahoney, who also does our halloween. terry. i saved lizzy. this is lizzy hirsch. she has been there. one of the founders of the friends of joe d in 1997. what started with planting a little grass on the children's playground has greatly expanded. few people know that the movie "thelma and louise" is a highly fictionalized account of lizzy and mine's adventures. [ applause ] >> most of it is overstated except for the driving off the cliff part. we have done that more than once. [ laughter ] the so yay lizzy. [ applause ] where is tan?

he won't come up here, but there is tan hiding in the back. [ applause ] of the chinese town community development center. tan is one of the hardest working neighborhood activists and one of the smartest political operatives that i know. i learn something every time i talk to him and we have really used his help on this project. tina of the russian river neighbors wasn't able to be here, but her colleagues were and we thank the russian hill neighbors for standing by us, our sister organizations, all of our schools. nester from the telegraph center. we're honored by the number of people who have stood by us on this project. a special shutout to our families, to the spouses and the children that have had to work around and make due for so long while we were away doing something else. a special thanks to my husgreg husband greg smith. [ applause ]

greg let us cut his birthday trip to hawaii short by a day and fly back on his birthday, so i could be here today. so if you wouldn't mind saying happy birthday greg. happy birthday greg! so this is a threshold, a beginning, a start. we're going to build a new library. there are a couple of other starts today. today is the start of the effort to raise money to furnish and equip that library. the friends of the library have done an incredible job of doing that with 23 other branches. we're the last. we don't want to tiredly limp over that finish line. we want to show them what our neighborhood can do. so you are going to be getting the asks. the ask is to be able to help with that effort to furnish our library and equip it to make it the best library in the city of san francisco. so stay tuned, we need your help again. one more and that is prop b.

how many people are going to vote in this election? can i see a show of hands? how many people will vote for prop b? >> yes. >> how many of you can think of at least two or three or four people in the next couple of days that you can talk to to make sure that they are voting for prop b, because that is it what it's going to take. we are within one or two percentage points ever victory. the people that you talk to could be the people that make the difference in that election. i want to thank the mayor and our supervisors, and phil ginsburg for putting us on that bond. let's get prop b passed, shall we? [ applause ] so we're going to turn some dirt and we're going to start a library. thank you all for being here today. you made this happen. [ applause ]

>> thank you, julie. well-done, julie. thank you. thank you. mr. mayor, will you have the honors. district supervisors, mohammed, phil, julie, come on down here and grab yourself a shovel and we're going to have a countdown. are we ready? let's have a countdown. on the count of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!